“In a move reminiscent of storylines developed during the World War II, the U.N. is joining forces with Marvel Comics, creators of Spider-Man and the Incredible Hulk, to create a comic book showing the international body working with superheroes to solve bloody conflicts and rid the world of disease … The comic, initially to be distributed free to 1 million U.S. schoolchildren, will be set in a war-torn fictional country and feature superheroes such as Spider-Man working with U.N. agencies such as Unicef and the ‘blue hats,’ the U.N. peacekeepers.”

Would those be the “blue hats” that set up child sex rings and force women into prostitution? Or is it the “blue hats” who abandon civilians to genocide after getting them all into one place for the convenience of their murderers? Inquiring minds really would like to know which group of “blue hats” Spidy will have his name associated with. And which Marvel superhero will help out with the corruption in various UN programs? Will the Incredible Hulk be renamed the Incredible Bribe in the interests of truth in advertising?

Seriously, Marvel, you really should be ashamed about cooperating with this outfit to brainwash American children. Parents, you are on notice to be ready to raise holy hell with your local school boards if they allow this into your children’s schools. And feel free to tell Marvel just how happy you are about the company they keep.

Yes, the UN has its problems. But what this opinionator says about the UN could also be said about almost any part of the US government. Yet we can’t do without the government of our country, nor the world without the highly imperfect UN.

Leaving aside the significant silliness of the UN devoting energy to producing comic books, really, Gaius isn’t fair. The UN is a huge organization with many many programmes in place across the world, many successful, many helpful, many the only kind of help people in sticken regions will get. Yes, it has been beset by terrible problems, corruption, and unthinkable acts by some “blue hats” and administrators alike, but you name me a government that has not. It needs serious reform, not more shallow American scorn. Do you have an alternative? Do you want to go out, live in war zones, and try to amelioriate horrible situations without the best options at your disposal? If that isn’t a job that could use some superhero help, I don’t know what is. So seriously, bring on the Spidy and the Incredible Hulk if they’ll help, and don’t tell parents to raise holy hell in their local schoolboards if you won’t.

Some people have enough problems distinguishing fiction from reality as it is. This won’t help them and will confuse them more. Spidey fighting against Doc Octopus is one thing. Trying to end the crisis in Darfur is something else. Somehow it seems to trivialize real problems. Mixing fact and fantasy helps neither.

Gaius should be more worried that HE has been brainwashed. The UN, while not perfect, does a lot more good in the world than he appears to contribute. American school children would benefit from learning about the UN so that they might learn to believe in and use this organization as the UN Charter lays out.

just convincing every nation-state, all religions and each ethnic enclave to grant women the same rights as men would take another couple generations. . . then getting everyone to agree that children are people too, another long argument . . . and then there is the need to migrate from coal burning to low carbon electrical generation methods, cease slaughtering coral and whales and forests, strip mining, toxin dumping, et al . . . all of which were always global issues but somehow took till now to be seen as such. . .

one atmosphere, one ocean, one biosphere …one world

it is time to acknowledge there is no such thing as a world government, despite there being a need for trans-national governance…

the issues of kiddie porn, flesh trafficking and massacres of varying scope were mentioned… it is these critical matters which ought to be dealt with first, and yet there is none who would do so… as flawed as the UN is, it is a starting point… regrettably there is little interest in moving from that zero point to the next step…

I think it’s wonderful, if belated. American public opinion could be an incredible asset for the UN apparatus, insuring that Congress approves the ourfinancial contribution and promoting respect for the unilateralism that is the UN’s ethos. UN agencies should aggressively promote the organization through the use of successful celebrities and brands. A friend of mine recently worked on the UN’s Water for Life campaign involving Jay-Z, and though she expressed some ambivalence about the , she could definitively say that it was effective; sex appeal, celebrity appeal, peer appeal, they’re hard-wired into modern consumers. The UN should definitely has the potential to be a more compelling brand.

You’re really going to give that guy traffic? “…a book about the UN doing any good would by definition have to be a work of fiction.” Ridiculous. From the eradication of smallpox to DPKO in the Congo, the UN system has provided the framework for incredible efforts. To condemn the entire apparatus, for the actions of individual soldiers, bureaucrats, or member states, is to do away with nuance and hope. What an intellectually bankrupt sentiment, and what a poor post.

What nearly every American critic of the United Nations fails to mention is that the UN is nothing more than the sum of its parts. To the extent that the UN has had to deal with corruption or has been paralyzed in the face of deadly conflict, this is merely reflective of the attitudes and associated actions of its member states.

Here is an organization which has as its sole purpose the betterment of living conditions around the world and the promotion of peace, and which on a shoestring budget that is less than 2% of the money spent annually on the Iraq war, has accomplished vastly more humanitarian and peacekeeping work than any other single entity in the history of the world. The fact that the UN has accomplished so much DESPITE the combined efforts of so many shortsighted member states and selfish special interests to undermine it, should make us all the more determined to support its work.

In any event, the UN’s problems pale in comparison to the government-sanctioned graft and malevolence that has been a cloud over the United States, through which powerbrokers have conspired to enrich military contractors, drug companies, and other corporate interests at the expense of US citizens.

Gaius would like to know “which group of ‘blue hats’ Spidy will have his name associated with.” Perhaps it’s the 100,000 U.N peacemakers who put their lives on the line every day in some of the most dangerous places in the world.

This does seem a slightly odd appraoch by the UN. Indeed, an imperfect organization…reflecting the disfunction of the Earths most troublesome occupant. It is however, an institution based on particularly noble ideals…ideas we should all aspire to.

Let’s clear this up once and for all. Conservatives say that government in general, including the UN, is the problem because it is corrupt and inefficient. The reason people believe this is because you read about corruption and inefficiency in government in the news.
However, in reality, the reason you read about corruption and inefficiency in government in the newspaper is because government has something called “public accountability”.
In other words, the free market is just as corrupt and inefficient as government, maybe even more so, but due to lack of accountability, the corruption goes unchallenged.
Wake up, America, government is not the problem, electing conservatives hellbent on proving that government is the problem… is the problem.

It seems that the media, the Times included, loves conspiracy theories.

The aim of this exercise, one can uncomplicatedly infer, is to increase the outreach of the UN and its goals.According to Wiki the purpose of the U.N. is to “facilitate cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress and human rights issues….and avoid war”; not quite the dark agenda to “brainwash American children” with.

Mr. Harshaw is not talking about a government agency, he talking about an international organization that is supposed to solve problems and hopefully prevent their happening. He is on target about the inefficiency of the U.N. to accomplish most of its missions and projects. For UN soldiers to stand and watch a slaughter of innocence is appalling and anyone who wants to defend that is delusional.

Dave Southern is quite right. The UN has its problems, and so does the US (and any other) government. There is a very big difference between the two, though. People in national government tend to have a lot more success at muzzling and manipulating the press. They are thus often less accountable, not more.

To cite an example, look at what happened in Iraq. A billion dollars might have gone missing in the Oil-for-Food program. That is inexcusable and should never happen again; those who are responsible should, and may well, go to jail.

Who will hold America’s leaders responsible for their (often blatantly illegal) decisions? Our country carried out a “preemptive war”, without Security Council authorization (remember? We lost the vote, but then we went ahead anyway…). Tens of billions of dollars were flown into Iraq in cash and handed over to political cronies; for years American leaders did nothing to protect and defend millions of Iraqis, many of whom died, or were wounded, or lost their loved ones, or fled; our leaders left weapons stocks and one of the world’s greatest museums at the mercy of pillagers.

The American press has only timidly told this story, and far too late. It has pointed to the hubris and arrogance of those in the administration. But there is no talk of justice. There will be no Nuremberg for the incompetent and/or corrupt Americans who brought this on Iraq and the world. And that is a shame, because only justice can keep these problems from recurring.

Kudos for publishing a complete unbiased opinion, NY Times! Maybe Spidey would join with the Blue Hats that risked their lives, or even died to save the lives of complete strangers in a foreign land. But, certainly, he wouldn´t join idiotic, worthless bloggers.

Wow, what cynical, narrow and ultimately dangerous purporting of the United Nations. The UN and the marvelous characters of Marvel comics are heroes to this world. Though their ultimate villain is not war and hunger, but instead the mindsets of those who pick and choose information, and wield with unfortunate weight a weapon that demeans even the greatest of our noble institutions and intentions –ignorance.

What blue hats are those? Are they the hard working people dedicated to helping the poorest of the world’s population? Is it the opinionator’s view that the United Nation is a force for evil? He ignores the fact that millions have been helped by through UNICEF and other agencies. The United States under this administration is no longer looked upon as a paragon of human rights. It is time to rejoin the international community embracing both the World Court and the United Nations and be held accountable for our actions.

I have worked with the UN in Congo and was exposed to the goods and the bads of the system.

The UN no doubt does important work that no one else will do and has more than its fair share of problems one of which is a bad reputation in the US.

That being said targeting US children with propaganda is inexcusable. If UNICEF wants to do something, showing US children about all the help they give the children of the world that is fine, but rather than using superheroes to convince children they are the good guys, they would be well served to open a dialogue with American adults to convince them the same.

It is narrow, chauvinistic thinking that would view the acts of a few and overlook the heroism and idealism of the many.
Could you not bring an even more convincing
indictment against US forces in Iraq for crimes
against the civilians they were responsible for protecting, or the Blackwater contractors who
murdered innocent Iraqis?
Without the United Nations as a forum and
a positive, humane reactive force, the world
would be in greater chaos than it is today.
The U.N. principles, not unlike the U.S. ideals, are a guide to create a safer, just,
more civil planet.
That ambitious agenda, and worthy goal may take a Superhero or two.

Any foreign force stationed in a country would pose problems, as Abu Ghraib and Blackwater clearly show.
Remember the recent news about how much money can not be accounted in Iraq? Wasn’t it at least ten times what was skimmed in the UN’s oil for food program?
Where in the world does Gaius et. al. get the moral pedestal to preach from?!

I think this is wonderful development. Anything that nurtures a sense of world citizenship in our children is of great value and necessity in this age. I believe Marvel is to be commended for this brave choice. Those that bring up incidents of corruption in the UN overlook its practical necessity. One could find many, many instances of corruption in the American government and in the NYPD, but it’s doubtful Gaius at Blue Crab Blvd would’ve raised the same hue and cry over similar comics post-911 that had the Marvel heroes teaming with New York’s finest… The reason is simple, the true issue polemicists have with the UN is not its corruption but the underlying threat they perceive to our unfettered national sovereignty. Eventually these fears will fade as people come to see as unworkable this present system of global anarchy. True, corruption does exist, just as it does in many governments, but the corruption is what must end, not the entity itself. I say bravo Marvel for teaching our children to live in a global society!

The critic sounds little different than those knee-jerk whiny idiot lefties who complain when (my personal favorite Marvel) Captain America fights along side the American government.

One could just as easily say ‘would those be the same Americans who refuse to prosecute or punish contractors that cover up gang rape? Or the Americans who keep hiring thugs that fire blindly into civilian crowds? Hire genocidal Shia thugs to be policemen and soldiers? Or destroy evidence incriminating high-level terrorists in order to cover up their own crimes of torture? Are these the Americans dear old Cap will be associated with?’